Co-founder and company member of Beryl and the Perils
Below is an outline of the topics covered in our interview with Didi Hopkins and Claudia Boulton in 2013, recorded to assist with the construction of the Beryl and the Perils company webpage.
Didi and Claudia’s Unfinished Histories interview is now deposited with the British Library Sound Archive, V&A Theatre Collections and Sheffield University. Please see Viewing Interviews for further details.
Date: 2013
Duration: 01:24:45
Company: Beryl and the Perils
Interviewer: Lucie Regan
Interview content includes: The work of Beryl & the Perils, beginning with a chat about revisiting the Perils now. How the company was formed and how its ‘house-style’ developed and from what. Is Denis Really the Menace? – how the show was created. The input of cartoonist Nicola Lane. The original company were all very different people. Reasons behind the company’s formation and the successful 2nd gig at Old Street church setting the company on its way. Early touring and audience feedback. Thoughts on their [Beryl and the Perils] place within the larger feminist movement dotted throughout interview. ‘Dangerous & subversive’. Covent Garden underground gig. John Ashford’s booking at the ICA. Nuts – show details. Played range of venues from Women’s Refuges to Royal Court Upstairs. Company imploded and disbanded after Beryl and the Perils in Space. Reformed 3 years later. New company members joined. Development of company style. Performing in John Lennon’s apartment in NY, also in Leeds. Details of Dead or Alive (inspired by Greenham Common) and Operation Beryl (Chernobyl). Thoughts on how their material sits with today’s world and the influence of the Perils. What they are working on individually, currently, and how their work with the Perils has informed it.
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